Where the Grass Is Definitely Not Greene

LARISSA DURBAK, a 30-year-old tutor and Web analyst who lives on one of Fort Greene’s distinctive brownstone-lined streets in Brooklyn, used to be a regular visitor at her neighborhood’s namesake park. But she got out of the habit about three years ago, she said, when local soccer players managed to erode all the grass on the park’s only level field.

“I can’t use that whole lower part of the park now because even if they’re not playing, if the wind picks up, the dust gets in your face,” Ms. Durbak said. “I used to sit on the fringes of it, but I’d feel dust in the back of my throat and be forced to move.”

Ms. Durbak is one of several residents who have complained to city officials about the state of the three-quarter-acre field, which is the only flat expanse in gently sloping Fort Greene Park and is in high demand for games or just lounging on a blanket. The parks department has reseeded the field several times, but last summer, agency officials decided that the efforts were useless.